In today’s world, technology is ever changing – this is also true in education.
The prominence of social media in everyday life has also had an impact in the classroom. There are a number of different ways that social media is being used by teachers across the country.
Embrace Community
One major way that social media can be used in education is by using it to exchange ideas with teachers nearby and miles away. With social media, educators from across the country can connect and discuss different teaching methods and tools. Social media is an excellent way to incorporate new ideas. For example, many teachers use Pinterest as a way to gather ideas for things like classroom organization and lesson plans. This method allows for a wider range of creative ideas to be incorporated into the classroom.
Bringing The World Into The Classroom
Many schools are reaching out to the idea of incorporating technology into teaching. Sometimes, schools provide each student their own laptop to be used throughout the school year. With the added technology, many teachers enjoy taking advantage of social media to enhance learning. For example, sometimes teachers have classes during which they encourage students to “live tweet” the class on Twitter. By doing this, students who may be shy or hesitant to speak out in class are encouraged to contribute their ideas. It also provides a way to keep students focused through a popular social media tool.
Social media is also a great way to keep the community feel of the school going. Often there are groups on Facebook for certain graduating classes or for certain sports teams or extracurricular groups. These mediums allow information to be quickly and easily distributed to all members.
Social media sites like YouTube and Flickr are great tools to incorporate into the classroom for any age groups. There are a wide range of different YouTube videos that have been created with education in mind, and are specifically designed for different grade levels. Additionally, many news stations place videos and clips of important stories on YouTube. Showing these videos can be a great way to incorporate current events and issues into the learning community. Using YouTube is also a good way to keep lessons interesting and different, which will in turn increase interest from the students.
Flickr can be another way to add visual graphics to a lesson, which can assist with keeping students active and engaged. Teachers can also encourage students to upload their own pictures and YouTube videos to their personal accounts when completing projects for the classroom. This can be a fun way for students to share their work with others, and makes presenting these materials much easier.
The numerous methods of using social media in the classroom assist with achieving the overall goal of learning.
Now It’s Your Turn
Can you share a few ideas on using social media in the classroom? Please post your thoughts below.
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